Fundamental mathematical operations, namely, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, are taught to young children during their early years of elementary education. However, arithmetic and mathematical skills are often difficult for children to acquire. The abstract use and manipulation of numbers is not generally an inherently obvious operation to most children, and the application of such operations to something which they can readily see or use is often of great assistance in teaching basic arithmetic and mathematics to children and others.
Early development of mathematical skills is crucial to children. Unless mathematical skills are understood at an early age, problems in learning math may grow as a child continues his or her schooling. In many instances, young children are taught to memorize concepts without really understanding what it is that they are learning. For instance, children are often encouraged to memorize multiplication tables as a way to understand multiplication. What often occurs is that children fail to completely memorize all the various permutations, leaving one or more combinations that go unlearned. Frustration may develop if the unlearned combinations are not overcome, leading to a lack of confidence when learning new mathematical concepts in future years. Students' self esteem may suffer as a result of not understanding more and more complex mathematical concepts. As a result, children often perform poorly in math throughout their middle school and high school years. Teachers and parents may lower their expectations in response to a child's poor performance, and the failure perpetuates itself.
The inventor is aware of various devices and games which have been suggested in an effort to teach mathematical skills to children and others, for example various types of numerical games are known as an aid to teaching such children simple arithmetic equations. For example, flash cards, wherein a simple equation such as “3 times 3” is displayed on a front surface of the card with the answer on the rear surface, have been employed as a useful aid. A single card usually contains one equation, and a large number of cards are required to effectively aid the student. These cards can be misplaced or lost, and may also be bulky to handle or transport.
Still further, the inventor is aware of various board games which have been designed to promote learning of basic mathematical skills. Many times, it is the purpose of these games to provide a challenge to the player which will test mathematical and reasoning skills. However, most of these games are targeted at a limited age range and only focus on a narrow range of mathematical skills to be learned. For example, many mathematical games are targeted at pre-school children and teach basic addition and subtraction skills. Other games are targeted at elementary school students and teach more complicated skills, such as multiplication, division, and fractions. Such games are not suitable for players who do not fall within the targeted age group for the specific game in question. In addition, most of these mathematical teaching games require at least basic mathematical skills prior to playing. Without basic mathematical skills, most mathematical games, even those geared towards young children, are not suitable for very young players. As a result, critical mathematical skills are not learned as early in life as might be otherwise. In general, older children become bored quickly with games that are designed for younger players, and younger children become frustrated and lose interest quickly in games that are too advanced for them. One other drawback to most mathematical games is that once they are played several times, the answers are known and the novelty wears out quickly.
Therefore, there is a need for an entertaining mathematical board game which enables players of virtually any age to play, even if those players have only rudimentary math skills. The game should also approach mathematical learning from an interesting and helpful point of view to reduce anxiety when learning new math skills and allowing players to develop strategic skills as well.